Sharemarkets finished the second day of the second quarter generally upbeat, although Wall Street was a touch easier as investors couldn't make up their minds about the outlook for the economy.
The market having a great day - up 148 – on the back of Wall Street's big session overnight. The SFE Futures sugggested a 176 point rise in the market this morning.
Dow Jones closed down 86 on Friday - The market fell 145 or 1.17% for the week and it's looking likely that the quarter will boast the biggest drop since 2002 (which was then followed by the start of a 4½ year bull market).
The data, as well as comments from companies that took part in the survey, indicate that Chinese companies have largely recovered from the storms, with indexes measuring production and new orders rising from February levels. The new orders index hit its highest level since October last year.
Dow Jones closed down 120. Two days of 100+ point falls have followed a two day 448 point rise. It was down 128 points at its low and up 54 at its best. The main issue a weak GDP number (but in line with expectations) and financial weakness. Final GDP for Q4 07 +0.6% after 4.9% growth in the previous quarter.
US, Asian and European markets were mixed to firmer overnight, pointing to a more modest start for Australian market. The surge in US market confidence faded as shares tried to build on the gains of the pre and post Easter trading.
The American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)) today launched trading in the Bear Stearns Current Yield Fund (Amex: YYY) managed by Bar Stearns Asset Management (BSAM). YYY is the first actively-managed exchange traded fund (ETF) to become available to investors.
Based on information received from members and member organizations, short interest increased to 16,009,687,994 from 14,956,961,052 on February 29, 2008.
NYSE Euronext (NYX) announced today that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $1 billion of NYSE Euronext’s common stock. The Board of NYSE Euronext also approved a 20% increase in its annual dividend to $1.20 from $1.00 per common share as part of a new dividend policy to grow the dividend to its shareholders, with a target payout ratio of 35% to 45 % of net income, while maintaining high investment grade credit ratings.
